Results 881-900 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: EU Directives (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: We have a healthy marketplace now. In addition to the companies I named, we now have Centrica, a major company in the neighbouring island, coming in after the purchase of Bord Gáis Energy. Most commentators would agree that we have significant competition in the marketplace but I agree with Deputy Moynihan that one has to be vigilant about this. There were particular reasons the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Offshore Wind Energy Sector (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: If the Deputy gets an opportunity to study the OREDP, which I published last month, he will see there are many actions at my door that will have to be driven in the years ahead. Ocean energy encompasses much more than purely the offshore wind aspect. Wave and tidal sources of energy are still at the research stage, but we have uniquely propitious resources in that area. I am also...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Offshore Wind Energy Sector (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: We discussed that at Cabinet when I brought the memorandum on the OREDP. The Deputy's question is pertinent because the situation has always been somewhat disparate, to put it mildly. My Department has the role we know about. In addition, the Ministers for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Transport, Tourism and Sport, and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation all have roles. In Cabinet there was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: EU Directives (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: There has been detailed engagement by my Department with the European Commission over recent years on the transposition and implementation of the EU third energy package. The Commission notice of referral refers to Ireland having adopted a considerable amount of legislation required by the directive but notes that some provisions remain to be transposed. My Department is at an advanced...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Offshore Wind Energy Sector (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The offshore renewable energy development plan, which I published last month, identifies an opportunity for Ireland to realise the potential of our offshore energy resources by increasing indigenous production of renewable energy, thereby contributing to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, improving the security of our energy supply and creating jobs in the green economy, especially in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Postcode Implementation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: We have a leading-edge project here. In a context where every OECD country has already introduced this type of system - most of them 30 years ago - we are able to benefit from the subsequent advances in technology. Moreover, the expenditure on the project will go back to the State on a scale in excess of 50% because it involves preparing the databases within Departments and so on. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Postcode Implementation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I do not know what the Deputy means by his last point. I will, of course, furnish him with a note on the point he makes about the threshold, but I do not know to whom he is referring in his last point. I do not know who he considers to be "benefiting". The officials in my Department who brought forward the project are not benefiting. The company that was eventually selected has an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Post Office Network (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The universal service obligation stands. It is Government policy and we have reflected that Government policy at EU level, which is that the universal service obligation should apply and continue to apply. It is no longer possible, as a member state of the European Union, that any Minister or anyone from any side of the House can prescribe that in future the post office in whatever town or...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Postcode Implementation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: My Department commenced the procurement process for a national postcode system in 2011. An open and competitive procurement process was conducted in accordance with Department of Finance and EU procurement frameworks. A pre- qualification questionnaire was issued on on 17 January 2011. This invited interested parties to tender for the contract as a postcode management licence-holder for a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Post Office Network (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I agree with Deputy Moynihan's disposition towards the importance and value of An Post. However, the Irish postal service is a network of commercial enterprises that are subject to EU competition law, so there is no avoiding that. I do not disagree with the sentiments that Deputy Moynihan has expressed but in his question he asks about my plans to guarantee the future of the Irish post...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Post Office Network (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: There is no Government plan to close post offices. The decline in post office numbers has, in fact, been arrested. Figures in the Grant Thornton report commissioned by the Irish Postmasters Union show that, although there were 197 closures between 2006 and 2010, from the end of 2010 to date there have been 17 closures. Reference was made to the business carried out by An Post for the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The cost to the State of delivering the Metropolitan Area Networks or MANs Programme is in the region of €176 million. The Programme was eligible for co-funding of 40% to 50% under the European Regional Development Fund. Phase I of the MANs programme delivered optical fibre based networks to twenty eight towns and cities around the country. The total capital cost of Phase I of the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 16 together. The Government’s National Broadband Plan, which I published in August 2012, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses including those in County Donegal. This will be achieved by providing: - a policy and regulatory framework that...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Resources (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The overarching objective of the Government's energy policy is to ensure secure and sustainable supplies of competitively priced energy to all consumers. Ireland is currently heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels to meet our energy needs. While it is acknowledged that fossil fuels will remain part of the energy mix for some time to come, progress is being made towards increasing the share...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Renewable Energy Exports (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: In January of 2013 the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Mr. Edward Davey M.P. and I signed a Memorandum of Understanding on energy cooperation. That Memorandum sent a strong signal of our shared interest in exploring the opportunity to export green electricity from Ireland to Britain and resulted in consideration over the last fifteen months of how Irish renewable energy...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Mobile Telephony (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The regulation of retail charges for roaming services is implemented by way of EU Regulations which limit the maximum retail prices for retail roaming services within the European Union. The first such EU Regulation commenced in 2007. Two further EU Regulations were introduced in 2010 and 2012 to further reduce the maximum permitted retail roaming charges within the EU and to increase...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadcasting Legislation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 21, 33 and 36 together. There are a range of legislative proposals currently under consideration in my Department which will require amendment of the Broadcasting Act 2009. The Programme for Government commits to examining the role and collection of the TV Licence fee and to the introduction of a household based Public Service Broadcasting Charge, to be...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Speeds (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The broadband service contracted under National Broadband Scheme (NBS) is a basic, affordable, scalable product in keeping with EU State Aid clearance for the Scheme in September 2007. Under the terms of the contract which my Department has in place with Hutchison 3G Ireland Ltd (trading as “3”), the NBS broadband service has been available to all premises within the designated...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Regulation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: Supervision of the Gate process is vested in the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER). The Gate process has been designed by the CER specifically to meet Ireland’s national renewable target of 40% of electricity supplied from renewable sources by 2020. It is estimated that around 4,000 MW of renewable generation will be required to meet this target. At the end of 2013 there was over...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Electric Vehicle Grants (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: In April 2011, I opened the Electric Vehicle Grant Scheme to incentivise and support, through grants of up to €5,000, the early deployment of electric vehicles in Ireland. These grants are in addition to the VRT reliefs of up to €5,000 which apply to electric vehicles. This support scheme will remain open for this year and I have no plans, at this stage, to introduce any new...